An unlikely alliance
by LnCpl. Luke Tamaken
Summary: A revamped version of a previous story. Three planes end up in Corneria after flying through a violent storm, and a chain of innocent mistakes have jeopardized the crew on-board. As wounds heal and relations trying to be eased, it may seem a long and tedious task. But when adversary comes, can these two races work hand in hand for a common goal?


Location: Above the Atlantic ocean  
Date and Time: November 20, 2018. 1900 Hours

"Flight time at five hours. Location is 1400 miles off the East Coast. Moderate headwinds, with a storm brewing in front of us"

"Did you alert our escort outside?"

"Just told them about the news."

"How bad will this get?"

"Pretty bad. Expect a very bumpy ride..."

* * *

The skies above the Atlantic was black like charcoal. Heavy clouds cover the clear sky with lightning and thunder going off at any given time. Even with the dangers of flying through storms, the three planes could not go anywhere or face the prospect of detection by Soviet satellites.

The lead aircraft was a B-52NexGen bomber for the United Nations Global Defense Organization or popularly known as Alpha Six, an elite military organization composed of six branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Intelligence and Reconnaissance, Special Operations and Black Operations. All branches having full support from the United Nations Security Council Permanent Six: The United States, Russian Federation, Democratic Chinese Republic, France United Kingdom and the Korean Union.

Commandeering the bomber is captain David Kennedy from the USAF while his co-pilot was Andrei Mosin from the Russian Air Force. Two officers were stationed behind them, one for attack operations and another for defense. William "Bill" Emmerich of the Canadian Air Force, is the attack officer while Jennifer McNamara from the RAF is the defense officer, both handle radar responsibilities.

"Can anyone give me an update on the weather?" David inquired as he looked out towards the storm cell.

"It's a big storm. With heavy rains and strong winds." Jennifer responded "I suggest we find another way around or we climb higher"

As the clouds loomed, the captain felt a sense of urgency to play safe without breaking their stealth. "We're pulling up. Andrei, tell the two to climb to 40'000 feet."

Escorting the large bomber were two advanced fourth-generation fighters: an F-15CSE Silent Eagle and an Sukhoi Su-35 jet. Commandeering the Eagle was Captain Jeff Del Socorro from the Eurasian Alliance Air Force or EAAF and commandeering the Su-35 is Lieutenant Kenneth Ron "Kero" Quimora of the EAAF.

"David, you sure you want to go through this? I mean, can we take the risk?" The young lieutenant asked, noticeably concerned.

"It's orders Kero, you know that" he reassured "besides, we'll climb to a higher altitude to play safe."

"Copy that commander."

The planes ventured deeper into the storm, gaining altitude as they flew along the darkness. Thunder rumbled around, the plane shaking from the force with lightning streaking in the distance. Downpour was strong, rain collided with the windshield like pebbles against cement. The strong winds causing considerable turbulence.

Just when they reached their set altitude, things started to happen. System warnings were going off, from electronics to engines, and the stick shaker also kicked into life.

"Stick shakers going off. What in the world's going on?" David mumbled as he looked at his own instruments.

With the situation degrading, action needed to be done.

"Stop the auto. I'm going full manual" Were the first words of David. Andrei promptly followed as he switched the automated controls to off. "Bill, Jenny, check the radar for anything suspicious"

Before he could push the stick, the master warning alarm went off before the entire electronic system failed altogether, swallowing the inside with darkness. Lightning illuminated the sky, amazing and scaring the pilots; one hit and they can fall out of the sky. Communicating with their escorts did no good either, for their comm line was dead, just static sounds.

The fighter planes had seen better, some of their instruments are still in operation such as their altimeter and communication equipment.

"Kero, Kero, can you hear me?"

"Yes... but very choppy..."

"Any word from David?"

"Nothing... communication line's... don't think they..."

"Kero? You're breaking up"

"Something's... systems... oh crap..."

"Kero? Kero!"

Static sound remained in the line as Kero kept silent.

"Great..." He sighed while looking at his available instruments. His HUD still alive and showing leveled flight. His bubble canopy giving exceptional and a terrifying view of the situation. To his right was the B-52 and the rest were thunderclouds.

He leaned back and cleared his throat as the flight progressed. Lightning and thunder continued with unending rain falling everywhere.

Another lightning bolt lit the sky with thunder following afterwards. Time felt slow, everything felt... calm. Sound ceased to exist, only the hum of the engines filled the dark fuselage. No one made a move, no one made a sound. Seconds felt like eternity.

David stared out of the window, his hands holding the stick. He couldn't understand why his body was so still, calm to say the least. The stormy scene beyond those thick windshields was terrifying, but he was just there, in a state of catatonia. The plane rocked about with the wind pounding it mercilessly, still holding against the wrath of nature...

* * *

Location: Corneria National Air Base, Corneria City  
Date and Time: 0000 hours. November 22, 2115

"This is recon seven, returning to base, everything is clear."

"Copy that recon seven, return to base"

The controller leaned back on his chair while checking his screen. After the Anglar blitz, Corneria's government was swift to implement a complete overhaul to the entire nation. Once infrastructure was secured, they focused on tightening homeland security and upgrading their army. With homeland secured and forces in top condition, the planet has risen again to become the superpower of the system.

"Recon four, report in"

"Recon four here, just finished my round. Everything is clear, returning to base"

"Roger, cleared to return home"

* * *

It was about an hour when David finally regained his senses and took in the scene; after the most terrifying experience they ever faced, the situation took a brighter side. The first was their system. As sudden as it is when it started, the electronic screens and displays went back online, starting from the aircraft instruments down to the crew instruments.

"Instruments are back and running!" Were the words of Andrei as he reclined back on his seat "We finally passed the worst, eh Captain?"

The American gave out a brief chuckle. "Yeah Andrei. We did it."

"Hey! Did you forget about us?" Kero butted in.

"Negative. We thought we lost you guys. You alright?"

"Affirmative. Jeff's doing good as well, just sent a message to me a while back. Instruments also came back to life"

"Glad to hear."

When he made his first look at the instruments, they were still at 40'000 feet, "Guess we're still okay. We haven't moved up or down."

Andrei turned his head to face David "You want to lower the altitude? 300 maybe?"

"Sure. And try to find a control tower, we may need some help" He added while pointing at their fuel gauge. "And a long runway..."

* * *

Back to the tower, one of the controllers have spotted three unidentified targets heading towards them, raising the alarm almost instantly. He grabbed the phone next to him and alerted a quick response team. "We got three unidentified objects heading for the base, please intercept and relay information if friendly or hostile"

"Copy tower, proceeding to intercept."

With that released from his shoulders, he proceeded to communicate with the objects, relaying the transmission signal code

"If you can hear this, please contact 184 decimal 9. Again, contact 184 decimal 9."

He patiently waited for a response, watching his radar for their progress. Tension mounting as the objects moved closer and closer towards the city.

* * *

Back to the aircraft, Andrei was able to hear the faint message, to his relief. "We have ground control close-by. Should I?"

The American nodded back. "Sure. I'll see if I can get our GPRS system running"

The Russian took his headset and punched in the signal code on his communication system.

"This is Alpha Six. Confirmed signal code 184 decimal 9, over."

"Roger Alpha Six. Can you verify visual location, over?"

He looked around, only seeing heavy thunderclouds and large amounts of rainfall. Visibility still very poor.

"Negative. We are under heavy rainclouds and cannot confirm visual location. We also seem to have difficulty with our GPRS system."

"Copy. Your location is forty eight nautical miles from Corneria City, over."

His eyes widened when he heard the response. He has never heard of such city on earth.

"David... I think you should take this situation very seriously..." he muttered as he transferred the line to David.

"This is captain David Kennedy of Alpha Six. We need confirmation of our location, over"

"Roger captain Kennedy. Your location is forty eight miles off Corneria City, over."

"Excuse me?"

"Repeat. You are forty eight miles from Corneria City, over."

"Hmm. What nation?" He shot back, his legs becoming uneasy.

"Nation... what's a nation?"

His expression turned blank when he heard the reply. He, in all of his career, has never been like this. The hard reality struck him like a bullet: they were in an unknown land with no contact and no allies.

He switched his comm link from the tower to his own team. "We... we aren't landing in American soil guys... I'm afraid we're in another planet or something..."

"You serious David?" Kero asked sarcastically.

A sarcastic laugh came from Jeff. "This is a joke! C'mon David, you ain't serious about this, are you?"

"Are you... thinking straight David?"

"No more jokes David, or are you...?"

He bowed his head, still trying to grasp reality. But while he tried his best to control himself, the controller was getting worried. Did he just give away the name of a potential target?

He called his supervisor to see the developing event. The three planes were now thirty five nautical miles from the city, and with communication from the plane gone, all suspicions faded away, it was an attack team.

While he looked at the screen, a tiger came by as the young cadet stood up and saluted.

"What's the problem private?"

"Three unidentified targets are heading for the city" He started before showing the screen "I had contact until it was lost after relaying location."

"Did you send an interception team?"

"Affirmative sir."

* * *

The interception team sent from the base was no other than Bill Grey of the CAF Bulldogs and Fox McCloud, leader of the now defunct Star Fox team.

"You feeling okay Fox?" The canine asked his partner through the communicator.

"Yeah... Just... trying to forget what happened." He sighed, head bowing down.

"I know. I'd be crushed as well if that happened to me"

The brown fox gave another sigh while looking outside. It was a year after the Anglar blitz, the wake-up call for Corneria to toughen up. But it was also that war that shed light to the fate of his team. Falco was nearly killed when Wolf betrayed Fox during the war, a move unknown by the general public. Star Wolf took all the fame and honor, rubbing out the long and storied Star Fox team. He didn't mind though, Corneria was saved and that was all that mattered. But one realization rocked him to the core.

Krystal, the blue vixen he loved, had joined the gang, after misinterpreting the move of Fox to kick her out of the team for her own safety. To add the painful salt and lemon juice to the injury, she gave her love to Panther, desolating the vulpine. The months that followed were long and painful. From taking care of a fallen teammate to moving on and trying to forget about his only love.

* * *

Minutes passed and the two were now behind the large bomber. Their first glimpse was quite a shocker, it was something they have never seen before. The length and wing length was larger than their largest transporter.

"That's a big target." Bill started while looking at the plane.

"And a big payload capacity as well" Fox added. "Should we send out warning shots?"

The canine nodded while facing the screen. "Just to make sure" he added, not knowing that it would start a chain reaction of events.

The fighters took their position as Fox swept through the holographic screen in front of him, currently showing the armament screen. He tapped a button which activated his laser cannon, capacity at around 500 rounds. After adjusting a bit to fire near the cockpit window as close as possible, his hand gripped the joystick and thumb near the fire button. He let out a deep breath and focused his aim before pressing the red button and releasing a few rounds, blue tracers lighting the sky.

Inside the F-15, Jeff saw the rounds fly dangerously close to the plane, causing him to go full alert. "David! We've got rounds flying. They're starting to attack!"

"Then follow procedure. We'll pull up while you prepare to strike with your vulcan cannon." The pilot responded.

"Affirmative. Weapons on stand-by. Just give us the order"

As preparations continued, David thought about the rounds being warning shots. Could he risk the prospect of more fighters trying to shoot them down for an innocent mistake? But his escort reported the rounds to fly a little too close for comfort.

"We got a back camera, right Andrei?" He asked.

"Yeah? Why?" The Russian asked back.

"Because I need to see what we're facing up against. If our gatling cannon can defend ourselves, we'll go offensive."

He started tapping some codes onto the screen, showing some commands and features of the plane. When he switched it to the back camera, with Andrei activating the infrared feature, their fears were confirmed, they were being trailed by two fighters, and the shape and design was completely alien to them.

"Damn... Jeff was right. We are being hunted." David commented before looking at his back. "Prepare the chaff defense Jennifer. Bill, man the canon, the camera's been set to infrared mode so you can see them in the clouds."

Pressure mounted on the four crew members as they prepare for the worst. Bill's hand gripped on the joystick controlling the 30mm cannon, waiting for a strike by the enemy.

* * *

Outside, the two Cornerian fighters were still on their tail. Fox was getting concerned about the blank reaction.

"Bill, you mind sending out a few rounds or so?" He inquired

"Alright. Just let me get into position..."

The canine took hold of the joystick as he slowly banked to the right. It didn't take long for him to reach his intended position. "Well... here goes nothing..."

With a sigh, he threw a few rounds in the air, unknowingly choosing fragmentation rounds than conventional rounds. And to make it worse, it did not end very well.

Kero's Su-35 shook with force before it made a sudden nose-up response. He was thrown back to his seat, completely caught off-guard from the fighter's reaction. The event was followed by a warning sound and the sudden cry of his engine, telling him of a very serious problem. He looked over his shoulder and nearly lost his cool at the sight: his left engine was on fire!

"I'm hit! I'm hit!" He shouted over the com while doing his very best to regain control, only to feel his fighter take a nose down. "Going down! Going down!"

Without any thinking, David instinctively shouted out his final command. "Engage all enemy forces!"

The first to react was Jeff. His first move was to raise his aircraft's nose and slow himself down until the enemy fighters were in front of him. The command was then followed by Bill, who already armed the 30mm gatling gun located in the tail.

"Kero? Status?"

As he tried to hear from him, Andrei shook his shoulder as he looked forward, seeing the damaged Sukhoi fly in front of them, its only good engine powering the fighter. "Barely holding on captain. I need to land as soon as possible."

"Activate a transmitter so that we can find you. Or at least land near a city or something."

"Copy captain. But make sure you and the rest come back alive" Were his last words before his fighter disappeared from their sight for the last time.

* * *

Tension is at its all time high as Jeff took his position to strike at their attackers. The bright blue exhaust from the enemy fighters was quite surprising, but had little time to think about it. His HUD screen was showing that the jet was ready to fire missiles towards the target.

_If the exhaust is that big, them it must have a big heat signature. Good thing they installed heat-seeking missiles on the bird._

Confident that he was ready, he took a final stance, opened the plastic cover separating his thumb from the missile trigger, and hoped that things will go his way.

_All or nothing now..._

He launched his first missile, the explosive travelling at a speed above 2000MPH. And not a second later, a confirmed hit when he saw a bright flame spiraling down from the sky.


End file.
